bike culture blogged

An art show wished I’d seen and missed here in Seattle. Heard about it too late, but it was Cycle-Series Continua

is a set of referential, reverential, and narrative sculptures, composed from bicycle parts and afflatus which echo ideas from a diverse selection of influences to express anguish, pay homage, focus (or diffuse) opinion, and to simply explore. Steve is a multidisciplinary engineer, designer, and builder with scores of interests, including enduring enthusiasm for bicycles.

Of those sculptures, the Aluminati interests me the most; especially from the visual arts

Aluminati began as an all-aluminum bike project and evolved into a conspiratorial 35mm film viewer for an old and perhaps arbitrary reel of “Ed Sullivan in Moscow”. A rare Peugeot Comete aluminum bicycle frame (sans decals) is fitted with a variety of bike parts per a primary quest for maximum aluminum, and a secondary quest for French parts (though parts from Japan, Italy, Spain are involved). Aluminum bike seats aren’t readily available, so the one here is OIXIO-hewn by axe/grinder/file from a sheet of 1/8” aluminum, and mounted on titanium rails. 24” aluminum 35mm-film reels (by General Devices & Eng. Co., Hollywood, California) are modified as quick-release bike wheels, the rear having a six-speed freewheel. Film threads through an OIXIO-hack-machined viewer head and over five film guides from front to rear wheels, and motion is powered via the Stronglite 93 cranks [Is that an inverted pentagram?]. A solar- recharged battery that is concealed by a reverent plate powers the viewer LED light.